A rally and counter-protest drew thousands into Boston Saturday morning for events that were largely peaceful, police say.
"For the most part, it went off just like we had planned," Boston Police Commissioner William B. Evans told reporters during a press conference late Saturday afternoon.
"99.9 percent of the people here were for the right reasons," Evans said.
The Boston "Free Speech" rally was slated to be held at the Parkman Bandstand from 12 to 2 p.m., but rally-goers were escorted by police from the Common before 1 p.m. due to security concerns.
The rally was organized held by Boston Free Speech, a First Amendment rights organization. John Medlar, a college student and one of the event's organizers, said the event aimed to advocate for free speech, and should not be compared to the "Unite the Right" rally that took place in Virginia.
Scheduled speakers included Kyle "Based Stickman" Chapman, a ring-wing nationalist who drew an online following after he was caught on video beating counter-protesters at an event in Berkeley with a wooden pole.
Joe Biggs, a former staffer for Alex Jones' conspiracy-minded website Infowars, congressional candidate Samson Racioppi and US Senate candidate Shiva Ayyadurai were also scheduled to speak.
"I didn't realize how unplanned of an event it was going to be," Racioppi told WCVB. "I really think it was supposed to be a good event by the organizers but it kinda fell apart."
While the rally drew a crowd of a few dozen, Evans estimated that 40,000 attended the counter-protest.
The massive group marched two miles from the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center in Roxbury to the Common Saturday morning.
"You could just feel a sense of pride being there," Mayor Marty Walsh said.
Overwhelmingly, counter-protesters were peaceful and followed police instruction.
A small group - 14 individuals - were arrested after refusing to make room for a vehicle to pass through a street near the Common soon after the "Free Speech" rally was called off.
Of the more than 500 Boston officers deployed for the day's events, the majority were plainclothes or uniformed. The public order platoon was brought in to clear the group from the street.
Rally-goers and counter-protesters had little interaction intentionally. "We didn't want what happened in Virginia to happen here," Evans said. He estimates the barriers between the groups separated them by 35 to 40 yards.
Later on in the day, the department released a statement asking "individuals to refrain from throwing urine, bottles and other harmful projectiles at our officers."
Evans said there was concern prior to the event that counter-protesters would bring bottles of urine. While some officers were hit, he said people had to have a "good arm to get at them."
Hours after rally-goers were escorted from the Common, rocks were thrown at some officers, leading to more arrests.
As of late Saturday afternoon, a total of 27 people were arrested by Boston police.
Overall, Evans said there was "very little injury and very little property damage here today."